See the Ville
Legendary decorator, baker and raconteur, Marc Charbonnet, discusses all things design and history with his beloved friends and neighbors in Saint Francisville, Louisiana.
See the Ville
Heather Melancon - STV: 17
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Marc sits down with Heather Melancon of HM Design & Consulting, a woman-owned design and construction business bringing thoughtful, full-service remodeling to St. Francisville and beyond. Heather shares how she helps homeowners transform the spaces they love—guiding them from concept to completion with a practical, transparent approach to design, budgeting, and materials. From kitchens and historic homes to the philosophy behind timeless style, this conversation highlights the value of creating spaces that reflect who you are—not just what’s trending.
Hello everyone. Thank you for coming on to see the veil. I have a very interesting guest today. She has a woman-owned design and contracting business. Her name is Heather Malark, and her business is HM Design. Hi, Heather.
SPEAKER_01Hi very Mark. How are you guys?
SPEAKER_00I'm well, thank you. Heather was on my uh Heather Jenkins lunch, which was all of these girls, and I crashed that lunch. She's so interesting. She had to get a her own effort. We have to get Heather Jenkins on too to talk about her rescue. That's a good thing to do. So tell me about some of the interesting projects you've been working on.
SPEAKER_01So uh right now, well, first off, we do uh residential remodeling, we do commercial construction, and then uh we also do residential and commercial building. Um like we spoke before, being in St. Francisville, I find myself keeping quite busy with the uh with the remodeling. And so a few projects I have going on right now. I I've got a lot of kitchen and bathrooms uh that seems to be this explain that just for a minute.
SPEAKER_00The price point has gone up so much in St. Francisville for new homes that Heather's kind of cornered the market on redoing homes because people are very happy in their homes. They just want something new. And she's able to do add-ons and renovations and bring things a bit more up to date, and that's what you've been doing.
SPEAKER_01Right. Most people have either lived in their home for years, so they've built up quite a bit of equity, or some of them just own their home outright. And so they want to update, they want to expand. And instead of entering into the sales market or even the new home building market, which in our area has really skyrocketed the last um five to six years, they have decided, you know, stay where you're at and just remodel and and update, you know, where you currently are. So, with that being said, that's kept me quite busy because what I do is it's a bit of a turnkey. So a lot of people in St. Francisville like to stay in St. Francisville. They do not like getting out in traffic, um, going into Baton Rouge. And so what I do, since I do the design part with them and the build, um, you know, I pick out all those things for them. And so that way it kind of keeps them from having to go back and forth into Baton Rouge, give some options to choose from.
SPEAKER_00And you're souped nuts, right? You do everything.
SPEAKER_01Oh, yeah, we do everything. So uh um all the finishes, the uh the countertops, the tile, all that, everything. I'll bring them options that they can pick from, and then um, yeah, so they they essentially never even have to go into Baton Rouge. And what I wanted to touch on too is um when we were talking about, you know, the remodels, prices have changed not only in the purchase of homes, but uh in remodeling itself, you know, the prices have gone up tremendously and it's kind of scared people a little bit. So what I like to tell my clients is you know, think about what you want done, think about a budget. It there was always this weird um uh thing that wasn't said, I think between uh contractors, it's kind of you know, you are are probably in your business too in design. It's like you you have to play this game back and forth of they have this wish list, you go in of all the things that they want, and then you're just trying to guess, you know, about what they want to spend, and they're trying to see from you, you know, what it's going to cost. And so I noticed that sometimes, and I'm like, you don't go buy a house, you don't go buy a car without having some kind of budget in mind. And so I think whenever you're remodeling, as long as you're bringing someone in there that you trust, if it if it's not someone that you trust, then that might be where the problem begins. But go ahead and let's talk about a budget. It shouldn't be an awkward situation, you know, or a feeling to talk about budget.
SPEAKER_00And it has to be a realistic budget.
SPEAKER_01And it has to be a realistic budget. So when I'm going in, I I know they've thought about this and they know, you know, what about they've wanted to spend. So when we're doing a walkthrough and we're talking about a kitchen, bathroom, whatever, we need to, it might be a little bit uncomfortable, but we need to talk about budget. We need to see where you're at. That way we can see if we have a realistic expectation. And a lot of clients think they can't afford, you know, oh, I just can't afford that. I can't afford to have someone come in and help me uh, you know, do everything, turnkey, but you can just need to let me know what your budget is. Yeah.
SPEAKER_00I had a client in New York and she kept saying and extremely wealthy and lived in a huge apartment in the El Dorado, which is a very famous landmark building on Central Park West. A lot of celebrities live there. I mean, this is back in the late 90s, and the apartment was several millions of dollars. Today I'm sure that apartment would be$25,$30 million. But uh she was so uh worried about what things cost that when we first started we were doing the front the front rooms, the living room, the uh foyer, there's a gallery, a little dining room. And she was really nickel and diming me. And I would I'd pull rabbits out of hats and I had this great resource. It was downtown in the uh Lower East Side, and I would go to well, actually you all might know the name from Housewives of New York. There's a fabric store called Zarin's.
SPEAKER_01Oh yeah.
SPEAKER_00And I would go there and you could get actually great fabrics. So we were doing these fabrics that were$35 and$45. You have to remember this is a long time ago today. That would probably be, you know,$120. And then she loved everything I had done. When we finally got to the kitchen, she was spending$200 a yard on the kitchen chair fabric. You know, it is it just drove me crazy because you get to the end of it, it's so weird.
SPEAKER_01It it always has these three stages. There's apprehension in the beginning about the price. Yes. And then the ball gets rolling, and then someone that you thought was so price conscious, now they're looking at, you know,$50 a square foot or whatever it is on a tile, and you're like, okay. And then it gets to the end, and they're like, how did we spend so much money? So I noticed that pattern and I was like, okay, well, I'll I'll get in front of it. So that's another reason why I like to do the just the budget. And then I always tell them, you know, consider 10 to 15% of overages. But this is uh an interesting thing. When it comes to the labor, you know, whether I lay a$10 a square foot tile, uh, 12 by 24, or I lay a$30 a square foot tile, 12 by 24, the labor is pretty much it's going to be the same. So that's where I tell them if you want to control something as far as cost, that's what we can control in the job is the materials. Because labor, there there's not, I mean, there's nothing we the labor is the labor. So that's where I can come in and help on materials. But um, you know, look, nobody is going to walk in your house unless they're either building or in the industry and say, oh, you know, that marble tile, that's$80 a square foot. Or they don't know the difference. You know, they don't know the difference. And so the end product is going to be close to the same. But if that's where you want to save, you would save on materials. And just like you were saying that you did, we do this all the time. We know where to source, we know, you know, um, different options that we can get. So I think some people are apprehensive to to go ahead and get the bid and see what it's going to be. But just when I'm coming in there, let's think of a budget. And if it's unrealistic, then I can just tell you that that's unrealistic. But if you're if you have something that's that's even close, you know, then then yeah, we can work with that. You don't have to, you know, you don't have to have hundreds of thousands necessarily to no, I agree with you.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. Um and it's so funny, you you never realize what's going to cost so much, you know, as far as the interior design part of it goes, the decorating part. Um you know, if you if somebody wants fringes on their draperies and you know, a border on their other things. I mean, it really wins up the cost. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Although it's a lot of things. And as you said, it's it could be a hundred percent silk or it could be, you know, something else, cotton. And it's still the same price to sew it together. It's kind of like a house. You know, when you go into to sell a house, it's really doesn't matter if what it costs, it's the same work, you know, right? Listing it and putting it on the market.
SPEAKER_01Right, yeah. No, yeah, that's true. It's it's it's the same. But um, so that's what I try to do. I try to have a uh just a good meeting, first meeting with them, walk through, and they can give me this is what most people do. You walk through and they thought about this for so long, they have this big wish list in their head. Okay, it's huge. So you go in and they start showing you everything. I'm sure you've experienced it. They show you everything they want to do, and then you're like gonna go back and price all this. They get the price back. It's outrageous because again, it's their wish list, and then you don't, you know, they don't call back or they're like, this is too expensive. And so it's really just about setting expectations and communication. So when I go in, I say, okay, you have your wish list. You have, you know, if you could wave a magic wand, this is what I would want done, you know, done. So let's talk about those things and then let's talk about budget. And then what we can do is pick which area you want to start with and then you know, go from there. So that's kind of what I've learned to do is just be very transparent.
SPEAKER_00Now there are different areas in St. Francisville. Where have you done most of your work?
SPEAKER_01I've done a lot of work out at the bluff since we lived here.
SPEAKER_00That's really been moving us.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it really has.
SPEAKER_00Especially I've noticed a lot of new houses in Savannah Square.
SPEAKER_01So unfortunately, the golf course is still closed, but it um has not really affected the, you know, the housing out there, and people have been building new houses, and there's beautiful homes out there. A lot of those homes were built um in the 90s, early 2000s. I think it started out there probably mid to eight late eighties. I could be wrong, but is that so um I I mean when I moved out there and I I looked out, I thought I've got 300, it's over 300 rooftops um as of six years ago in the bluffs, probably more now. And I thought to myself, my word, I could just stay out here for years. You know what I mean? And just doing the math. I'm like, uh, these homes are, you know, quite aged, but still very valuable. And so I'm like, I could just remodel kitchens and baths and homes in the bluffs for years and be content. So I started out there and then it just grew, you know. And I I work in Zachary, I've got jobs in Baton Rouge, um, um, just pretty much everywhere. But I prefer, like I said, once you're in St. Francisville, you prefer to stay in St. Francisville. So um my husband, he will do a lot of the commercial construction. Oh, okay. And we do a lot of that, like in Baton Rouge, Gonzales, and then um we do new builds. Um, and I'm about to start building one out in the bluffs myself, you know, to sell. But like I said, the remodels have really, really kept me busy.
SPEAKER_00And you've just almost completed a historic home Wida, which we had Callie on the podcast, and she was telling us about her home out in Weida Eindale Road, and your cabinetry was beautiful. Thank you.
SPEAKER_01I work with a couple different cabinet builders, and um like we spoke before, I'm really particular about the cabinets, and I love the guys that I work with. Yeah, because they really can see my vision and implement it. Um because, like we talked before, the cabinets of the late 80s, 90s, early 2000s had just this bulky look to them. And then most people you're putting everything in the cabinets, and it's kind of far back there, so you're not even using that space. So I I like I said before, I really like elongating them and making it.
SPEAKER_00You mean m going up to the crown? Up to the crown, yeah, that's the best thing.
SPEAKER_01Slending them in with a nice bowl. I mean, we are in the south. I like a good bold, you know, crown molding, um, and then just uh nice, sleek cabinetry.
SPEAKER_00And talking about uh Ellen Kennan, who was on the show a couple of times, and she's my producer, she does her paints, her full spectrum paints, and I understand that you and she collaborated on a whole line for you.
SPEAKER_01Yes, we did. We have the HM Design palette, we used them out at Weida, and um we used them at Shade Tree as well. And we will, when we post them, you can see all those. And I love Ellen. We've become really close friends. I have a funny story.
SPEAKER_00Oh, tell us.
SPEAKER_01Um, I guess in a weird universal manifestation way, I met Ellen. So when I lived in Prairieville in uh before we moved here, we moved out here in 2020. I um I had visited and met Brandon and Jim at the inn when they were remodeling that. My husband had a camp here where he was hunting. So we went to the inn because I had seen on Instagram where Brandon was remodeling the inn, and I saw that he uh was using Ellen's paint. And so I'm on Instagram and I can remember it that I'm sitting in the living room and I'm flipping through and we're watching TV. And I said, Ray, you know, there is a woman in St. Francisville, and her name is Ellen Kinnan, and she has this paint line because I am also obsessed with paint. So when I started to do design, I'd started out in uh marketing, radio, television, advertising. And so design was just kind of like a side work that I would do, and it started out with paints. I just had kind of like a little eye for paint and color, which uh Ellen can attest, you know, some people don't. They need help with that. And so I was really drawn in to her and looking at all I'm like, she makes her own paint because I'm sitting out in the garage, you know, mixing up these different colors and taking them in and having them, you know, um uh lessen the formula, darken the formula. And uh so anyway, I don't even remember when we first met, but eventually it came about that I think it might have been through branded that I actually uh got to meet Ellen. And so we just started talking paint and we can just talk paint forever. So she's been definitely like a mentor to me. And um yes, uh I mean you don't come across people very often that get really excited about paint and the color. So her and I definitely have that in uh in common.
SPEAKER_00Well, I remember in New York so well that And it was funny because in New York, you know, people have great art collections, they have valuable rugs, beautiful textiles. And but people would walk into the jobs that I'd done and the first thing they'd say is, Oh, what color is this?
SPEAKER_01Oh right.
SPEAKER_00It was always the paint.
SPEAKER_01I know, yeah.
SPEAKER_00It got a big kick out of that.
SPEAKER_01It is, and if you notice whenever you're looking online, um that's one of the top questions when I post something, or um, you know, when people are just looking at things online, they're like, What's the paint color? What's the paint color? Because it really one thing it changes the mood of a room. One thing I say to people, so in in remodeling the these homes, if we can go in and just paint with the cabinets in the kitchen, you know, going back to talking about budget. Let's say you're like, Oh, I'm scared to call Heather. I'm scared this is gonna be like too expensive, you know. I don't know. I I might be embarrassed because I don't have a very large budget. No, go ahead, let me come in. There's different things that we can do. We can keep the base of your cabinets, I can uh redo the doors and the drawers front, redo the hardware. I've done that before. We can change out the countertops. I mean, you would be surprised at what a difference of just changing out those fronts and hardware and paint and countertops and just painting the living areas to do. Um, because a lot of people they feel like it's either all or nothing. They have that in their head. Well, if I can't do it all, then I'm not going to do anything. Well, look, some things have to go by steps. I mean, if you're going to later rip out the cabinets eventually, I would not suggest that you redo the fronts. But if you will be happy with refreshing that, then yeah, that's something that we could do. And and I tell them once they get in there, once it's done, they're happy. You know, you remember when you would go look at TVs compared to this? Remember, you go looking in your at the showroom floor, and because there were so many TVs to compare to, I'm gonna use TVs as an example because I used to think like this looking at a TV, you're like, that TV's not that big. You know, they have all the different sizes. You're like, that's not, but once you remove it from that place and bring it in your home install it, you're like, whoa, that TV was way bigger than I thought it was. That's kind of the same effect that it has in your house when you redo it. You know, you're you can get overwhelmed looking at different uh finishes and tiles and cabinets. But once you take that back, you know, you're looking at the really expensive line and the lower line, and you're in the store and you're like, Well, that looks so beautiful. Well, yes, because you're looking at all of them right now. But if we take even that midline, you know, plumbing fixture and I go bring it back to your house, it's gonna make a big difference, you know. So kind of that same effect. Like once you get it home and in there, it looks different than when it's compared to everything else.
SPEAKER_00So, what do you see as new trends or newer trends?
SPEAKER_01Well, me and you talked about this before, and I really wish that people would stay away from from the trending design. Um, it has changed so much, and you've been in it way longer than I have. So you've really seen, but in these last 10 years, I would say it has almost just become ridiculous. If you can't see just having having come from that marketing background, that that uh you know, advertisement, television, knowing what people do to get those uh, you know, sales, and they're moving at such a fast pace now. You know, your grandmother would buy a beautiful um sofa and it would just be the highest quality, and she would literally keep that for the rest of her life. But now what we see is you've got Instagram, you've got TikTok, you've got so in your face, there's an orange velvet couch, and they have it all, you know, decorated. You're like, oh my gosh, that's beautiful. You buy the orange velvet couch, and then next week you're like, oh my gosh, there it is in the blue. You know what I mean? Oh, I should have gotten the blue. Well, that's okay. I'll put this on Facebook Marketplace, and then I'll go buy the blue because I like the blue more. It's psychologically, it's overwhelming. So we really just have to take a deep breath, stop. And now, what I suggest that people do is look for things that um have meaning or inspire them. Yes. You know, more traditional. I'm glad that. And we're starting to see that. We're starting to see a more traditional design style coming by back. And it's funny because they always have to name it. Have you noticed that? It can't just be it's like Ralph Lauren. They have to name, you know, which is a great traditional style. But I noticed around the holidays everybody was like, it's a Ralph Lauren Christmas, you know what I mean? And and it's a traditional Christmas, but they that just in naming it, you know, using his name, they are manipulating and they'll they'll say it so much instead of just traditional Christmas that then that's when it goes out, you know. Same thing with farmhouse, everything, farmhouse, yeah, membership, everything we should. Yeah, everything should and look, anyone that knows, especially working on these historical homes, uh, Shiplap, Subway has gotten a bad rap, shiplap's gotten a bad rap, because it's not that those materials are trendy, they're traditional materials. It's just the way that they've been used, you know.
SPEAKER_00No, I agree with you.
SPEAKER_01You if your house isn't an actual farmhouse, well, I would suggest maybe you don't go with farmhouse. And if you are, if it is a traditional farmhouse, then don't go with the trendy farmhouse. Do a traditional farmhouse. You know, we built a a farm type house for some friends of ours, uh, probably 10 years ago. And I'll have to post pictures of it because it was a beautiful home with a wraparound porch. It wasn't what you see now with, you know, the black windows and the you know, it not the same. So um, if you did get stuck in a trend, it's okay. Don't beat yourself up either. Because if if everything's white because everything was white, well, guess what? Add some wallpaper, add some color in your drapes, add some pillows, add some, you know, you didn't make a huge mistake. You can always. You know, do little things to make it not so trendy.
SPEAKER_00I was helping a good friend in town in the historic district take her Easter decorations out of her attic this morning. And we were talking about a home very near hers, and it's a perfect example of what you were talking about. This is a, you know, in our town of St. Francisville, you can't, we're in the historic district, you can't do uh you can't demolish anything if it's over 50 years old, and you have to really keep it as it was in historical context. But if the house is where it is, you're allowed to redo it and upgrade. And there's a home which has good bones and what you could do with this house. And so if anybody is listening that has a purse full of coins, this is a great opportunity to move to the historic district. This is this beautiful uh property and it could be redone as a two-story home uh where you could have a historic element, which is in most early 19th century homes, the first floor was uh in uh Creole architecture, was a lower ceiling, and then the second floor could have up to 12-foot ceilings. Right. And you could add a second floor to this property, all within historic guidelines, and wind up with a magnificent home in the historic district, and you could get around the rules by following the plan to make it look like an 1830s home, and it would be very successful. Well, if anyone decides to be able to do that, yeah, you could build it and I could decorate it, that would be a great thing to do.
SPEAKER_01Collaborate on that.
SPEAKER_00Give me a call if you want to know what that is. I'll tell you all about it. It's also on my tour, which is see uh excuse me, the ghost of Bayusrah, which I give this tour, which is an interesting little tour of the town. And it's about the history of St. Francisville and Bayusera. And there's also a um a tour around town in the historic district. But it's amazing what this this little house that's currently there could be turned into.
SPEAKER_01That would be precious down there. And we can go back a little bit and hit a little bit more on what you were you know mentioning the trends. People your home is your biggest investment. People are spending hundreds of thousands of dollars on their homes. And I believe it's really giving them anxiety, trying to keep up. I mean, can you imagine spending, you know, putting everything into this home and then, you know, uh flipping through Instagram or something one day, and then pretty much just saying, you know, a designer on there saying, everything you've done now is it's out. You know, yeah. That would be devastating. So that's why I tell people don't get so caught up in the trend. Um, your house should be a reflection of who you are. Like when I'm in Ellen's home right now and I look around, I can tell who Ellen is. I can tell about her personality.
SPEAKER_00It should reflect your personality.
SPEAKER_01Yeah, it should reflect your personality. You should pick things that you love, and you don't have to get it all at once. You know, if you're in a home store and you just have a buggy or whatever it is, or you're just ordering, or you're in a showroom and you're just picking and ordering and you know, feeling like you have to feel this home, or do you don't. It can take years to curate a home, you know. It it and that's okay.
SPEAKER_00That's it's developing a patina or patina, depending on how you pronounce it, and it's good, it gives it a beautiful aged look.
SPEAKER_01When you get up in the morning and you're making your coffee, you want things in your home that speak to you, you know, whether it's a painting, I totally agree with you, a figurine. You want to have your coffee and look and it it makes you smile. Maybe it's something of your grandmother's, you know. Uh, so many people have discarded so many things of their grandparents that I love to see now that they're starting to pull those things out because the quality, they just don't really make things like that anymore. And another thing, stop worrying about what everyone else thinks. You know, you do your home, you spend all this money, it's beautiful. And oh my gosh, you invite your friends over, or the worst can be the family. Because you know, you always have those disgruntled family members. It's just the way a dynamic works. And you know, sister-in-law is looking at something and she's like, Oh, and never pick that, you know, and never do. Who cares? That's not her home. Oh, we're your house is not meant to please everyone. Just like your life isn't meant to please everyone. Stop worrying about what other people think. Stop asking people what they think.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, their opinions is gonna make you unhappy with whatever they have to say. I know.
SPEAKER_01Go with a contractor, go with a designer, go with someone you trust, go with yourself and make it in your decisions. And whether people like what you did or not, it doesn't matter as long as you know you're happy with what you did, you know.
SPEAKER_00Well, I agree with you, and I'm gonna thank you very much for being on this episode.
SPEAKER_01Thank you for having me.
SPEAKER_00Um, and uh so I want to remind everybody to check out my podcast, See the Ville. And this has been Heather Maloss, and we're very happy to have had you today. Thank you very much.
SPEAKER_01Thank you so much, and I just want to tell you that I appreciate you showcasing uh a woman builder in this industry. Yes, because it's a tough industry, girl power. That's right. It's a tough industry um uh for women, but not too hard for us to manage, just making sure that we uh call, be on time when we're supposed to be, and and pretty good at doing it.
SPEAKER_00Especially in this day and time, we see women pulling us out of all kinds of problems.
SPEAKER_01Well, I just noticed in the industry that there were that's one of the reasons I got into it, because in being a designer and doing design, and then you know, it's funny, you always have this yin and yang between the designer and the contractor. So I'm like, well, I'll just morph both of those into one person, you know. And then uh yeah, that way you get the best of both worlds. You get the design and you get the contractor in one, and it helps sometimes to move the project along.
SPEAKER_00Well, thank you, Heather. Thank you, and thank you all for listening to See the Ville. Bye bye.